713

Opheira walked with a number of the maidens of Hratha Vorith. Each of them led a mount, and I recognized at least Jauna.
“You weren’t planning on abandoning your partners, were you?” Opheira demanded. “They aren’t a Banthir you can just take milk from and leave to wander the plains. Until they release you, they would be most distressed to be left behind.”
I remembered what Opheira had said about being abandoned, and I’d rather take the great feline with me than take a urine bath from the big cat, so with a smile I just scratched behind Jauna’s ears.
“I didn’t want to assume the gift was permanent.” I assured her, “But your generosity is most appreciated.”
“They can keep Irsivir company!” Risavis laughed.
“The Wo-High Elves have a stable?” I asked her.
“Well, it is not as well manned as the stables here. But many of the battle maidens have our Dire Wolves or other companions. They have a denning tree and I think all our new companions could enjoy it there. Except perhaps the hiersver, but I’m sure we can find one of the unused aviaries that could have its entrances expanded for them, and they can roost on the terrace until the entrance is properly adjusted for them.” Risavis explained.
That sounded like a plausible plan, and I could see that the declaration was a relief to Opheira.
“This is a good arrangement indeed.” She said, then turned to Mavrin and Sevrina. “Now those two have yet to select mates. So come spring, they may venture out to find mates. Don’t be concerned if they do. Within a week they will either return alone or with a mate. They won’t be mating for a few seasons, but remember when the time comes that you shouldn’t fret.”
They nodded their acknowledgment.
“I’ll send word to send a Wayfarer to bring us home.” Sevrina volunteered.
She began her incantations, and I could tell Laliera was getting nervous.
“Have you left the plains before?” I asked.
“No, master,” She replied. “I was only 65 years of age when the Massacre made such travel too perilous.”
“The forests of Ealphamir are very different, but you’ll do fine,” I told her. “You have all your sisters to help you.”
She looked at the other matrons, the maidens, and Amura. The only one not fair of skin was Amura and Amura’s blue skin was different enough from Laliera’s chocolate brown that I don’t think it helped. Even my skin, tan as it was, was still far fairer than hers. At least she had the advantage of knowing they were all children of the same gods. Her features matched those of her fair cousins, and even if the color of her skin was different, she might as well have been made from the same mold.
“And I’m here to help you,” I assured her.
She smiled, “You are sentimental. I like it.”
I chuckled.
A moment later a pair of Wood Elven maidens, wearing caster robes, appeared.
“We have been sent to return you to Ealphamir.” One informed us, looking over the group and counting heads. “Horithin, are you able to take half?”
“I should be able to manage.” The second caster agreed after doing a count herself.
“Should?” I asked. “What happens if you can’t?”
She nodded solemnly, “We will be sure to employ teleportation that if it fails, will leave you where you are. And we will send for another to assist us. It is just… the animals are hard to teleport. It takes the effort to teleport five individuals to teleport one of them.”
I was somewhat comforted.
They stood on opposite ends of the group and began their incantations. Their fingers drew mystical symbols in the air, which remained as a white glowing mark until they finished their chant, together, and clapped their hands together.
The world blurred together, as it had each time I’d teleported before. We arrived in Ealphamir, and, to her great embarrassment, Flendreir announced our presence by losing her last meal.
Anbethir hurried to comfort her and help her as she tried to avoid further retching, and Laliera whispered. “I am glad I was not the one with the weakest stomach… but I nearly joined her.”
I chuckled.
Teleportation was incredibly convenient, but it would be too perfect if it had no drawbacks. I mean, the fact that it could get hijacked and drop you in any god-forsaken spot, or worse, a god-forsaken drop, was its own complication. The additional fact that teleporting made Flendreir violently ill made teleporting directly to the frontlines with her less than ideal.
I immediately felt the joy of the matrons who had been forced to remain when feeling my presence so close. I almost went straight to them, but we had our partners to take care of. It took a while to get the mounts down to the dens that Risavis had talked about. Irsivir and the friror were fine walking on the not entirely steady walkways, but the grass drakes were not fans. Mavrin and Sevrina just climbed on their hiersver and took to the skies, headed in the direction of our home.
The den keepers were surprised, to say the least, by the arrival of three big cats and the swarm of the grass drakes. They were able to find places for them all and the creatures seemed content, but the maidens working the den seemed less than pleased.
“Drakes are a mess!’ one maiden muttered. “These drakes alone will double our work to keep the den clean.”
“We will do our best to see that you are assigned new help,” Tavorwen assured them, which alleviated their objections somewhat.
The creatures themselves seemed well pleased with their new living arrangements. The friror had claimed an area to themselves, in an unused part of the den. The grass drakes however seemed grouped together as near the entrance as they could, and I couldn’t tell if that was an effort on the part of the den keepers or the drakes, but the drakes seemed happy.
With the matter of our companions mostly settled, we returned at last to our home.
As we ascended the stairs from the forest floor, where the den was located, I found myself having to wait for the elves of my household to catch up. Laliera was discovering that stairs used different muscles than she was accustomed to, but she was not about to be left behind. I just found the steps to be… effortless. My legs were unbothered as they lifted me the distance from the forest floor to the level of the actual city and I felt like I could have kept climbing into the clouds if the stairs had continued.
Once everyone reached the city level, they all managed okay. As I watched Laliera, I wondered for a second why Amura hadn’t struggled so much. A glance at the Shadow Elf maiden revealed, to my horror, that she was walking just as gingerly, the same muscles in her upper legs doubtlessly burning, but she had pushed hard to keep up and not said a thing.
How much has she just dealt with? I wondered.
As a slave, her well-being had probably been the least of anyone’s concerns. She was probably used to pushing through whatever was asked of her and not being able to speak up, let alone having people wanting to hear what she thought.
I resolved to talk to her about it, but in private, so she could say what she wanted without worrying what the others said.
Our arrival at the home tree was greeted with jubilation.
“Welcome, home Master!”
There were demands for tales from our days in the plains, and Laliera was welcomed, for the most part, with open arms.
“A new… matron, from the plains?” Diamiutar noted. “Should I not have been consulted before adding a matron to the house?”
Laliera seemed nervous for a second until Tavorwen clarified.
“She may not be wearing her armor just now, but I assure you, she is a daughter of battle. And as head battle matron, I agreed to accept a battle matron from among the daughters of the plains.” Tavorwen corrected.
“Oh? That’s well then.” Diamiutar relented.
“It is strange to me that a daughter of the savage plains would desire a place in our enlightened society.” Heilantu mused.
I was not about to let that fly.
“Heilantu, that was out of line.” I snapped. “As far as I saw and am concerned the Wild Elves of these plains are just as civilized and enlightened as the Wood Elves, if not more so. No one in my house will speak down to a member of ANY of the other races of elves. I don’t care if it’s a Wild Elf, Sea Elf, or even a Shadow Elf trying to kill us, looking down on anyone just because they aren’t like you is pointless at best, and breeds division, conflict, and at worst, could lead us to underestimating the value of an ally or the danger of the enemy.”
She’d said something about Amura too, when she first joined the household. I was trying to build unity between the elven peoples, not cause strife, and having a matron who thought it was okay to take cheap shots like that was not something I could allow.
The matron’s eyes widened in shock. Her mouth worked and I could feel her embarrassment, but it only matched the embarrassment she’d caused Laliera. Luckily, by jumping to her defense so quickly, I had seemed to help significantly with Laliera’s problem, now I just needed to fix things with Heilantu and we could try to put that faux pas behind us.
“Besides, you should practice being the amazing role model for our child that I know you can be,” I told her.
The elves who had accompanied me, other than Laliera, knew that Heilantu was pregnant, but if Narusil’s reaction was anything to go off of, Heilantu would, as of yet, be unaware.